ESL One Germany 2020 Preview

The tournament is called ESL One Germany 2020 and its prize pool is $400,000. But in fact, this is just another online tournament. Nevertheless, given that it features the best teams in Europe and CIS, this is a Dota 2 event you definitely don’t want to miss.

ESL One Germany 2020 Details

ESL One Germany 2020 is scheduled to take place between October 5^th – November 1^st. So, once again, we have a tournament that’s packed with high-level matches.

Participants

A total of 16 teams will take part in the competition. These teams are the following:

• Team Secret
• OG
• Team Nigma
• Team Liquid
• Alliance
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Cyber Legacy
• Natus Vincere
• gg
• HellRaisers
• 5men
• mudgolems
• Winstrike Team
• Yellow Submarine
• EXTREMUM
• Tempo Esports

This list of participants offers two extremes: tier 1 competitors with exceptional past results and tier 2 competitors that are mostly here because the organizers wanted to have a bigger show. Normally, for a live event that brings together teams from all over the world, half of the participants would not have been here. But since this is a regional competition, a lot of lower-skill rosters had to be offered a shot. It’s like a Rocky film, except you know before it begins who’s going to win and who’s going to get smashed to bits. It’s not less fun because of that. And for some people it may even be profitable. But you definitely know that Secret cannot lose here and that Tempo Esports, EXTREMUM, Cyber Legacy, and several others have almost zero chances of surviving the Group Stage.

Competitive Format

ESL One Germany 2020 will be played in a format that’s rarely used in Dota 2. And that is the one being known as the modified Swiss-system. In effect, we will have 5 rounds of matches and the teams will never play an opponent twice. If a lineup gathers 3 wins, they qualify for the Playoffs and stop playing. If they gather 3 defeats, they are eliminated and stop playing.

Given this format, we’re likely to see all of the best teams survive the Group Stage. My expectation is that Secret, OG, Nigma, Natus Vincere, Alliance, Liquid, Vikin.gg, and mudgolems will be in the Playoffs. Everyone else will be eliminated.

The Playoffs Stage will be played in a double-elimination format. Apart from the Grand Final (Bo5), every match during this stage will be Bo3. What I like about this way of doing things is the fact that every single team starts in the Upper Bracket and has two tournament lives instead of one. So the winner will truly be the best team of the 8.

Prize Pool Distribution

ESL One Germany 2020 offers a substantial prize pool for an online event: $400,000. The money will be divided among the 16 participants in the following way.

• 1^st place: $150,000
• 2^nd place: $80,000
• 3^rd place: $45,000
• 4^th place: $25,000
• 5^th – 6^th place: $15,500
• 7^th – 8^th place: $12,000
• 9^th – 11^th place: $7,500
• 12^th – 14^th place: $5,500
• 15^th – 16^th place: $3,500

 

Photo credit: Valve